Pomander Collection of Hawaiian folk-lore. 



puniu, pailani, pahiia, apiki, alaapapa^ with great rejoicings; and name songs in honor of 

 the cliild were composed and given to bards who went from place to place singing them, 

 so that the people throughout the land miglit know them. All of the people greatly re- 

 joiced, and whoever did not join therein was condemned and was termed a know-noth- 

 ing-' 



After all these things when the time of birth nears the inaina' is discharged, that 

 which envelopes the child, a sign of the child's coming forth. Then the high priests with 

 the feather god come forward, all praying to a false deity. The drums are beaten, and 

 prayers at intervals are offered from a separate place, in honor of the child. 



As the child approaches the birth, the mother laboring for a day, or perhaps for 

 two days, the incantations become general. Great reverence was shown these false gods, 

 and those having pebble gods,* or shark gods, or unihipili's'' (ancestral gods), or fire 

 (Pele) gods worshiping them accordingly; and those who entreated for a position pre- 

 sented their petitions, and so did those of sincere" prayers. If an ordinary man and an 

 ordinary woman came with their false deities (images) held above them, prophesying be- 

 fore the chiefs and the people, falsely claiming that they were possessed,' because of the 

 s]Mrit of prophecy resting upon them; thus they declared before the chiefs and all the peo- 

 l)le, saying: "Your child is born; your wife will not die", people at a distance would in- 

 quire, "What did they say?" Those who heard them plainly told the others that the gods 

 who were in possession of those two told the king that his wife would not die. 



The high priest told the king saying, "Do not listen to the talk of the lesser gods ; 

 listen to my word, which is this : from the time of your poverty until you became wealthy 

 these gods did not come to talk to you ; they did not come in bygone times when we were 

 poor. But when we have become prosperous they come hither to talk to you. Do not 

 listen to them ; just hearken unto my words and offer a pig in the temple to }'our male 

 deity, and a girdle to your female deity. 



The pig was taken by the priest and offered to the deity with the prayer. "Oh God, 

 here is the pig; give thou health (life) to your offspring and your descendants." Then 

 the rain fell (in answer).' The people and the chiefs praised because of the propriety of 

 sacrificing the pig to the deity. The same ceremonies were accorded the female deity 

 when the travail was over and the child was born, a great royal child, Wakea by name. 



'These several dances are described as follows : Laau, 

 a stick-beating dance; f^iliu, with drum accompaniment; 

 puniu, with ulili, or rattle-gourd accompaniment ; pai- 

 lani, similar to tlie puniu; pahua in which the per- 

 former dances in zigzag course ; apiki, wherein the 

 dancers attempt to entertain the spectators with buf- 

 foonery ; alaapapa, a dance confined to a certain spot 

 where the movements are executed. 



'll-'aha pala, a contemptuous expression, applied to an 

 ignoramus, a blather-skite. 



'Inaina (liquor amnii), bag of waters, 



''Akua iliili, where pebbles (one or more) spread out by 

 the kahuna for consultation as to the will of the gods 

 upon the object petitioned for. 



'Vnihipilis are the departed spirits of relatives or 

 friends which arc supposed to be hovering near, and 

 differ from aunnikuas, ancestral guardian spirits that 

 wander to distant realms. When required by sorcerers 



for malevolent acts or influences, the unihipili spirits 

 were the ones sought, never the auniakuas. 



'Pule pah, sincere prayers. A prayer is said to be a 

 pule palo tliat ends with "Aniama, ua noa;" it is used 

 to designate the truth of the statement or object of the 

 prayer. Kepelino designates it as "A prayer in which 

 tlie deity was called on to raise up the spirits of the 

 dead inhabiting eternal night, or chaos, wliich is com- 

 monly alluded to in Hawaiian traditions as the night of 

 Kunuihonua; and such spirits were called the ancestral 

 deities of darkness. 



'It appears to have been a custom, and practised to 

 some extent in modern times, for certain false kahunas 

 to seek to l)enelit from a well-to-do person at cliild- 

 birtli by flattering auguries of safe delivery and life to 

 the mother, as against would-be plotters for their in- 

 jury or death. 



•■The priests and people looked upon rain attending a 

 petition as a favorable response, hence their rejoicing. 



